A better future

Firing David Moyes May Not Solve Manchester United’s Long-Term Problems

Famously fickle when it comes to managers, football fans are beholden by
many allusions. Yet new research suggests that of all the game's myths
and theories ‘the illusion of short-term reprieve,' created when a
struggling manager is replaced, may be the most perilous.

In modern football a manager’s job is only as secure as his last result,
with each season prompting another turn of the managerial
merry-go-round. However, the study, published in the British Journal
of Management, found that over a 12-year period it was long serving
managers who performed most successfully.

While struggling teams found brief respite by replacing a manager, long
term problems often reasserted themselves over time. With an aging
squad, an abyss of debt and an anxious global fan base, the money men of
Old Trafford may yet find that hiring Ryan Giggs is another step down
the road to decline.